{https://wikileaks.org/nsa-germany/}
Press Release
The United States National Security Agency has been massively targeting phone numbers of top German ministers and public officials responsible for commerce, finances, economics and agriculture--including even Angela Merkel's personal assistant. WikiLeaks publishes today, July 1st, a list of 69 German government telephone numbers from a high priority on NSA target interception list demonstrating economic and political espionage against Germany for almost two decades. The resulting classified interception reports show the US and UK spying on German officials discussing their position and disagreements on the solution to the Greek financial crisis.
Merkel Intecepted Talking to Her Personal Assistant
One intercept report is based on private communication between Chancellor Angela Merkel and her personal assistant, the other based on a British intelligence interception of communication of German Chancellery Director-General for EU Affairs Nicolaus Mayer-Landrut.
The Merkel document details a US intercept of the Chancellor October 11th 2011 and is classified two levels above top secret an indicator that the material is considered highly sensitive. Even so it is cleared for sharing to other members of the US led "Five Eyes" spying alliance of UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
In the intercepted talk between Chancellor Merkel and her assistant she talks about her view towards solutions of the Greek financial crisis, disagreement on policy with members in her Cabinet such as Finance Minister Wolfgang Schnaeuble, leaders of France, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and IMF director Christine Lagarde. In the conversation Merkel also expressed the urgency to enact the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) and to put pressure on the U.S. and British governments to bring it about. The FTT was first introduced in September 2011 by EU Commission President Jose Barroso. It has been strongly opposed by major banks and the governments of Brittain. and Sweden within the EU. The top secret NSA interception report was shared with British intelligence.
UK Bugged Franco-German Greece Bailout Plan, Gave Intercept To US
A separate report published today by WikiLeaks based on interception made by British intelligence (GCHQ) and shared with NSA, details German government position before negotiations on a EU bailout plan for Greece. The report refers to an overview prepared by German Chancellery Director-General for EU Affairs Nicolaus Mayer-Landrut. Germany was, according to the intercept, opposed to giving a banking license to the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), however it would support a special IMF fund into which the BRICS nations would contribute to bolster European bailout activities. The report also sites Mayer-Landnut believe that a resolution of the Greek crisis would require greater private-sector involvement. He believed a full-term team would have to be placed in Athens to monitor the situation.
NSA Economic Espionage Extends as Far Back as the Clinton Presidency
The NSA high priority German target list make clear the US emphasis on intercepting government offices and political officials dealing with economic, commerce and even agricultural policy. The earliest targets on the list stretch back as far back as the Clinton Presidency, which added Oskar Lafontaine, who German Finance Minister from 1998 to 1999. The target selector also include Werner Müller, German Federal Minister for economics 1998-2002, Barbara Hendricks, former Secretary of State at the Federal Ministry of Finance and current Federal Minister for the Environment and Ida-Marie Aschenbrenner, Head of Office of Minister of Finance Theo Waigel from 1989-1998. Target selectors include ministers, their staff, groups working on preparations for meetings of G7 and WTO . It also includes a phone number at the European Central Bank. The list even includes central switch-boards for key departments and fax numbers.
WikiLeaks editor in chief Julian Assange said: "Today's publication further demonstrates that the United States' economic espionage campaign extends to Germany and to key European institutions and issues such as the EU Central Bank and the crisis in Greece. Our publication today also shows how the UK is assisting the US to spy on issues central to Europe. Would France and Germany have proceeded with the BRICS bailout plan for Greece if this intelligence was not collected and passed to the United States--who must have been horrified at the geopolitical implications?"